Friday, October 30, 2015

Today’s
feature is an interview with Brian Paone about his sci-fi novel, Yours Truly, 2095.

During
his virtual book tour, Brian will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble
(winner’s choice) gift card to a lucky randomly drawn winner. To be entered for
a chance to win, use the form below.
To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit his other tour stops
and enter there, too.

A little bit about the
author:

Brian
Paone was born and raised in the Salem, Massachusetts area. An award winning
author, his love of writing began through the medium of short stories at the
young age of twelve. After almost 20 years of consistently writing short
stories for only his friends and family to read, Brian’s first full-length
novel, a personal memoir about his friendship with a rock-star drug addict
entitled, “Dreams Are Unfinished Thoughts,” was published in 2007. Brian’s
second novel, “Welcome to Parkview,” was published in 2010 and is a macabre
journey through a cerebral-horror landscape. Brian’s latest novel, “Yours
Truly, 2095,” was published in 2015 and follows a man who wakes up one morning,
trapped in the future, to discover he’s been the victim of a time-travel
conspiracy. Brian is married and has 3 children. Brian’s wife is an Officer in
the US Navy. He is also a self-proclaimed roller coaster junkie, and his
favorite color is burnt-orange.

Welcome Brian. Please
tell us about your current release.

The
book is billed as a time-travel romance mystery, because on the surface, that’s
what it is. But what you don’t know, until you start reading, is that the main
character isn’t who you thought it was during the first 150 pages. Its only in
the last 200 pages that you realize that the main character is someone else,
and the book is less about time-travel and more about artificial intelligence
being able to develop a soul and free will. We all love the M. Knight Shyamalan
plot-twist as much as the next guy, but my plot twist happens so slowly, that
you don’t realize that I’ve pulled a classic plot twist on you until you reach
the end of the book. That was the hardest part of writing the book… trying to
get that just right for the reader, so the shift in focus felt natural and the
reader didn’t realize that they were actually empathizing with the wrong
character right from the beginning.

What inspired you to write this book?

One
of my favorite albums of all time, is Electric Light Orchestra’s 1981 concept
album, Time. Somewhere
in my late teens / early twenties, I thought that the storyline of the Time album should be flushed out either
as a novel or a movie. I knew, at the time, that I was nowhere NEAR talented
enough yet to take on such a task as writing the adaptation of the album. After
publishing two novels, one in 2007 and the other in 2010, I believed that I was
ready to tackle turning the plotline and story-arc of ELO’s Time album into a full length novel.

I
began working on the outline in February 2012, and the first step was to take
the lyrics of all 16 songs, and dissect their meaning (both literally and
figuratively) and put together a cohesive linear storyline. I wanted to do what
The Who’s Tommy, and Pink Floyd’s The Wall movies did for those albums…
but just in novel format. The Time album
has a very concrete characters and storyline (as does The Wall and Genesis’ The
Lamb Lies Down on Broadway) but there is enough unsung moments in the
progression of the story, that I knew I had to fill in the gaps of the lyrics
with my own literary license. In the lyrics we are told, flat-out, that the
main character (Jeff) is from the 1980’s and wakes up in 2095, with no idea or
explanation how he got there, that there is a woman who is a perfect robotic
replica of his wife (Julie) from the 80’s, he wants nothing more to return to
his wife but there is some issued that need to be resolved in their marriage,
that he takes a one way trip to the Moon to find his way back, and there are
multiple new organizations controlling the world’s power.

These are very
specific lyrics that move the album forward. After pulling out the lyrics that
could not be disputed, I then went through line by line and interpreted the
lyrics that could be left up to the imagination of the listener of what the
lyrics meant, and how I was going to make it a concrete part of my book. For
instance, there is a lyric in the album that says: “Someone has broken out of
Satellite Two, look very carefully it might be you!” That was pretty ambiguous
inside the song, so I had to make a decision to what exactly Satellite Two even
WAS, who the “someone” was, why it might be a clone of someone else… and then I
had to try to make it work inside the storyline around it. The album is 16
tracks, and just shy of 50 minutes in length. The book took me almost 40 months
to write because I wanted to stay as true to every single word on the album
that I could. Also, and this is the most important part, you do NOT need
to have ever heard a single song by Electric Light Orchestra to enjoy the book
or follow along with the plotline. In fact, I have sold the book to more
non-ELO fans than I have fans of the band. So I don’t want that the book is
based on a concept that you may have never heard, to scare you away. It is a
stand-alone story about time travel, robot AI, and redeeming a love through the
years.

Excerpt from Yours Truly, 2095:

“Are you okay?” Julie asked through the
window.

I was surprised I could hear her.

“Yes! Can you let me out?”

I was expecting her to answer with
something snide and sarcastic, but she didn’t say anything at all. She just
disappeared from my view. I leaned forward in the chamber so I could see where
she went. Julie was standing in front of one of the computers typing on the
keyboard very quickly. After a few moments I heard a hiss, and the cover swung
open. I felt like a rising vampire as I stood up and stepped out of the pod.

I almost fell backward into the
chamber when she turned around. Julie was missing half of her face. Where the
left side of her face should’ve been was only wires and metal.

“This isn’t a dream, is it?” I asked
cautiously.

“No. I’m sorry, Jeff, and it only
gets worse.”

“J0?”

“Who else?” J0 asked. She turned
back to the computer and typed in some more commands. The hydraulics of another
seclusion chamber hissed as its cover opened.

“Oh, no,” I said quietly and covered
my mouth with my hand.

Bruce’s mouth and eyes were
unnaturally stuck open.

I knew he was dead before I even
asked. “Is he—?”

“I’m pretty sure. I already called
the police. We’re going to meet them out front to let them in. They should be
here in a few minutes.”

I took a step toward him.

“Don’t touch him!” she yelled.

I stopped in my tracks.

“Whoever did this was trying to kill
both of you.”

What exciting story
are you working on next?
I will begin outlining my 4th book in a few months. Tentatively
untitled, it’s going to be a comedic-military novel, almost in the style of the
film Mr. Mom with Michael Keaton.
This will be about the true adventures I had when my wife, who is an Officer in
the Navy, left me alone with our two toddlers when she got deployed for 8
months, and the learning curve and craziness that ensued during those months.
I’m hoping to have a 2017 release schedule for that. I also have a short story
coming out in October in an anthology of authors from all over the world
called, A Matter of Words.

When did you first consider yourself a
writer?

In
the 7th grade. I wrote my first fictional short story called, “The
Night is Long.” It wasn’t part of some homework assignment, or in-class
exercise. I wrote the story over the weekend, purely because I loved to read
and wanted to write something that was my own. After that, I never stopped
writing. However I only wrote short stories from 1988 to 2005. It was then that
I began work on my first novel. My career as a novelist would never have
happened, or at least to the success that I have had, if one of my best friends
hadn’t died in 2005.

My friend David, who was the lead singer of the
industrial-rock band God Lives Underwater who enjoyed some commercial success
in the 90s, had been struggling with drug addiction, depression, and the throes
of the music business since I met him in 1995. We became fast friends, and I
was one of the few people who stuck with him through all his highs and lows.
When he passed away in 2005, I didn’t know where the put my grief. I just
couldn’t find a healthy outlet for how I was feeling about losing him. It was
suggested to me to write a memoir about our friendship, but in novel format so
it read more like a story than a journal. My wife was the biggest advocate of
me using my grief to write my first novel, and recant all the good and bad
times that come with being close to someone who struggles with addiction, and
someone who was on major tours, on MTV, and all over the radio. He was a
multi-dimensional person, and our friendship was trying and rewarding all at
the same time. I started writing what would eventually become my first novel, Dreams Are Unfinished Thoughts, in
January 2006 and it was published in October, 2007—on the second anniversary of
his death. The book sold above and beyond anyone’s expectations, and that’s how
I stopped writing short stories and focused on writing novels.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's
your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find
time to write?I’ve published 3 novels, and my typical day during the writing of each book
was totally different from each other. When I was writing my first book, Dreams Are Unfinished Thoughts, I was in
the middle of moving from MA to GA, changing police departments, and recording
an album with my band, Transpose. So a typical day would be: get everything
done first for the move, switching jobs, the recording studio, and whatever
time was left at night: work on the book. We also didn’t have any kids yet.

With my second novel, Welcome to Parkview, my wife had been
deployed to Djibouti and I was working full time at the police department in
GA, and we had 2 kids now. So I was alone without my wife, with 2 toddlers, and
working full time. The My day would be: get the kids to day-care, go work
fighting crime for 8 hours, pick the kids up and do whatever household chores I
had to do (laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping etc.), feed the kids dinner and
put them to bed around 6:30, then I would work out for an hour, and then I
would work on Welcome to Parkview after
I showered until whenever I passed out at my laptop.

With Yours Truly. 2095, the Navy had sent us to Japan for the next 4
years. I had to take a leave of absence at the police department, and we moved
the family there. I did not get a job right away, as my wife wanted me to be
the stay at home parent during our time in Japan (I did eventually become a
Criminal Justice professor for the college on base, but that’s irrelevant to
the book.) We moved in November, 2011 and by January, 2012 I was itching to
write. For the first time, I had the TIME to write, and not having to worry
about a new job, moving, or wiping poopy diapers. So, in February, 2012, I
started my outline, and writing the book was my full-time job for a while. We
sent out 2 kids to Japanese Kindergarten (called a Yochien in Japan) and they
were gone Monday through Friday from 9:00 to 4:00. I would bring them to the
bus stop, wave goodbye, go back up into our apartment, and write until the bus
brought them back. It was the first time I could write without distractions,
and the first time I was writing not being dead-tired at night after putting in
a full day.

What would you say is your interesting
writing quirk?

I
have to listen to music when I write. But I’m very specific. I have to pick a
single band on my iPod, click Shuffle All of all their songs, and have that
playing. I can’t have a playlist of random bands. It has to be one specific
band during that writing session. And most of the time, the band’s music will
help mold the tone and atmosphere of the scene I am writing.

As a child, what did you want to be when
you grew up?
Keifer Sutherland in Flatliners….

Anything additional you want to share
with the readers?Yours Truly, 2095 might be inspired
and based on a concept album from the 80s, but it is every bit my own creation
as it is developed from those lyrics. Even though it is a time-travel story on
the surface, I believe that it is a romance novel about a couple’s redemption
at its core. The book may take place in the distance future, but all the
conflicts are struggles that we deal with in our relationships in our everyday
lives in the here and now. I believe that this book can be enjoyed just as
equally by fans of straight up science-fiction time-travel stories, as well as
fans of romance mysteries. The science-fiction jargon is not crammed in your
face, nor is the romance angle shoved down your throat either. It’s a nice
blend of both, allowing the story to ebb and flow on its own, as Jeff slowly
figures out what is truth and what is a lie.

Thursday, October 29, 2015

Today’s feature is a special excerpt from David Kitson’s science fiction thriller
novel Turing Evolved.

During his virtual book tour, David will be awarding THREE (3) e-copies
of Turing Evolved to THREE lucky
randomly drawn winners. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free
to visit his other tour stops and enter there, too!

A little
bit about Turing Evolved:

When
Ex-DEMON pilot Jon Carlson meets beautiful humanitarian Rachel, it's a match
made in HEAVEN. Literally, because Rachel's an ANGEL. She's also an AI
controlled android of immense power and capability. As Jon finds himself drawn
into the world of these enigmatic creations of mankind, he unknowingly becomes
involved in a program to create autonomous superweapons intended to fight the
next war.

Excerpt from Turing Evolved:

Now was time for me to try out my
well-rehearsed chivalry. They say it’s dead, but the attitude works.

‘No, you were trying to help me. I
really should have been sedated back there, and I know it. I’d probably be all
right by now and not have to deal with the muscular problems later if I’d just
taken a little nap.’

She looked up at me, her expression
searching for something in my words.

‘And I, well, I just wanted to say
thanks.’

Janet smiled at that, the same smile
that had made me feel better earlier when I was nervous. ‘Yeah, all right,
you’re forgiven. I take it your partner pulled you out unexpectedly?’

‘What was your clue?’ I asked.

‘The part when Jeremy said, “Fuck it
all, I can’t even see him now. Janet, dope him up because he’s coming out
unexpectedly.”’ Janet made a funny-sounding deep voice as she said it, which I
took to be an impersonation of Jeremy.

‘But you don’t know how close you
came to receiving your own bruises,’ she warned, and her face hardened.

Still, I was on a roll now and knew
it.

‘Yeah, thanks for that, or rather,
not doing that. Why didn’t you try to jab me again?’ I asked.

‘I couldn’t find the syringe quickly
enough,’ Janet said, nodding.

‘Can I make it up to you?’ I asked.

She raised an eyebrow. ‘Like how?’

I thought about it. I probably
looked kind of stupid, standing here, chatting up a para while both my arms
hung from my shoulders like dead flesh, except for the occasional spasmodic
movement.

‘I don’t know, send a pizza, take
you out for lunch, something to apologise?’ I suggested.

‘I don’t know, this is a pretty big
bruise,’ she said, looking at the side of her arm. ‘I think maybe a full dinner
apology is in order.’

That wasn’t what I expected, but it
sounded better than what I had in mind.

‘Sure, but ah, not tonight, okay? I
need to, ah, recover,’ I said. I felt like an idiot now.

Two other paras looked at me, gave
each other a look, and then wheeled the cart around behind the ambulance and
started loading it into the rear door.

‘Here’s my card. Call me,’ said
Janet, and she held it out to me.

I looked at it and back at her.
Didn’t she realise I couldn’t take it? The edge of her smile slowly lifted, and
I realised she was getting back at me as best she could right then. After
letting it sink in, she flipped the card vertically and dropped it into my
shirt pocket.

‘Don’t plan on pizza. I expect a
decent apology,’ she gently warned.

‘I’m kind of new to town,’ I said.

‘Then I’ll pick the restaurant and
you can pay,’ she said, smiling, as the back of the ambulance started to close.
‘I think your partner is waiting for you.’

I turned to look at the half-closed
door of the ambulance then, and saw what she was referring to. I could just
make out Jeremy, with an annoyed look on his face.

‘Yeah, all right. Well, I’ll call
you once I’m recovered,’ I offered.

‘Do that,’ Janet said.

‘Yeah, I’ll see you then.’

It’s difficult to walk off
nonchalantly when your arms are effectively spastic and paralysed. It’s even
more difficult to get into the cab, and it’s impossible to close the door. I
was just angling to attempt to look even more stupid and pull it in with my
foot, when one of the paras came around and closed it for me.

‘Thanks,’ I called out of the
window, not game to stick my head too far out without my arms working.

‘Don’t wait too long,’ I heard
Janet’s voice, as Jeremy pushed the accelerator and the ambulance started
forward, causing me to bump my head on the door frame.

‘Did you just pick that lady up?’
Jeremy asked, as I pulled my head back into the cab. He didn’t sound impressed.

‘Ahh, yeah, I think she picked me up
actually,’ I said. ‘I owe her a dinner it seems.’

‘Dinner? You’re shitting me. You’ve
been here what, two weeks? All that in training, and now you come out here
first day on the job and you pick up the para chick, just like that?’

‘It kind of seems that way,’ I said.

I almost fell over into Jeremy’s lap
as he turned a little harder than expected into the next street.

‘Damn, you’ve got balls, is all I
can say. Let’s see how long you last.’ Jeremy started to whistle as he made his
way onto an on-ramp.

Author bio:

David
Kitson has worked in corporate and government environments as a security
analyst and technical network architect, as well as a print and TV journalist
focusing on video games and technology news. His love of science stems back to
a childhood spent climbing trees and building rocket launchers. He lives in
Western Australia with his wife and four children.

Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Today
I have an interview with K.L. Brady about her new novel. It's a romantic comedy titled 12 Honeymoons.

During
her virtual book tour with Goddess Fish Promotions, K.L. will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble
(winner’s choice) gift card to a randomly drawn winner, and a Kindle Fire HD
(International Giveaway) to another randomly drawn winner. To enter to win one
of the prizes, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning,
feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

Bio:

K. L. Brady is a D.C. native but spent a number of her formative
years in the Ohio Valley. Her writing career started in the pages of diaries
when she was 7 or 8 years old. But it wasn’t until her 40th birthday and an
Oprah “Live Your Best Life” moment that she finally answered her calling and
wrote her first novel–The Bum Magnet.
The originally self-published novel was picked up by Simon & Schuster in a
two-book deal, and K.L. hasn’t looked back since, penning the follow-up, Got a Right to Be Wrong and
self-publishing the first books in two young adult series and a spy thriller
series based on her 20+-year career in the U.S. Intelligence Community.

She has a B.A. in Economics, an MBA, and is a member of the
Maryland Writer’s Association, Romance Writers of America, Sisters in Crime,
and International Thriller Writers. She’s addicted to writing and chocolate—not
necessarily in that order—and currently lives in the Washington D.C. area with
her son. She is hard at work on several projects, including the next
installment of the series.

Welcome, K.L. Please
tell us about your current release.

I
have this theory about how people find their purposes and destinies.

Some
people know what they are meant to do, almost from birth. They go through every
day of their lives knowing what their gift or talent is and spend most of their
time trying to figure out how to bring it into the world.

For
others, they have zero clues about who they are meant to be. These people seem
flighty and switch from job to job or "thing" to "thing"
because they are desperately searching for their purpose and won't stop
searching until they find it.

For
yet others, they discover their purposes at a very early age, but they talk
themselves out of believing they can't do it. Some fear failure, others fear
success. They don't have faith that if God has given them a purpose, he has
also equipped them to fulfill it. So they bounce around aimlessly from
"thing" to "thing" trying to discover what they've already
known for most of their lives.

This
book is about Miki Vincent, a woman who fits squarely into the latter category.
She's known her purpose from a very early age but fears failure and perhaps
success. She's addicted to beginnings because she's afraid of endings—in life
and love. So, instead she's accomplished nothing, committed to no one and gets
into a lot of trouble because of it. This book chronicles the part of her
journey where paying for her mistakes and some rude awakenings help her to
embrace what's she's already known her entire life.

What inspired you to
write this book?

A
look back on my own journey into writing. If there’s a message, I guess it’s
that it’s okay if you take a more circuitous route to achieving your dreams or
even finding love.

I’ve
often thought that if I had figured out that I wanted to be an author sooner
that I might be far more successful at this stage of my life. But writing this
story made me realize that my theory is probably horse puckey. It is the sum of
my experiences that have provided me with so much rich material about which to
write. Without my experiences, the good and the bad, I’m not sure the stories
would be half as good or “real” or funny. So, I’ve come to realize that everything
happens in its due time. Whatever path you take, if you’re open to finding and
following your true calling, it will eventually lead you there—even if you take
a few back roads and scenic routes.

Excerpt from 12
Honeymoons:

I spent my time trolling Facebook
and shopping Tiffany & Co. for engagement rings, looking back on those
dizzying, emotional highs between day 1 and day 89 after you meet someone new,
wondering why I couldn’t put them on Groundhog Day repeat. I wanted to relive
each first touch, first hug, first kiss, and first roll in the proverbial hay
during The Honeymoon Phase—those heavenly moments at the beginning of a
relationship during which sublime happiness could not be contained, when you
agreed to everything and fought about nothing. And the butterflies. Oh, the butterflies.
How they flapped around in your stomach as you lie giddy with anticipation
waiting for the phone or the doorbell to ring. The mere thought of you
compelled him to acknowledge your presence on earth and in his life. And don’t
even start on the lovemaking. It was so delicious and frequent you could
produce enough serotonin and dopamine between the two of you to fuel a
medium-sized Chinese village in the Shanghai Province. I convinced myself that
this vision of perfection, excitement and passion was how we all should
experience love, not just in the first ninety days, but always.

What exciting story
are you working on next?

31 Days, a planned novella,
is the follow-up to 12 Honeymoons and
will come out next year. It will focus on Pamela’s story and provide some
much-needed relief to the readers of 12
Honeymoons. Those who have read it understand.

When did you first
consider yourself a writer?

I’ve
been a writer all of my life. I’ve been journaling since I was 7 or 8 years
old. But I never thought of myself as a writer until I sat down to write my
first novel in late 2008. To me, authors were like gods on Mt. Olympus that
worked a special brand of magic unavailable to mere mortals to write my
favorite books. They didn't sit down and grind every day and type. Oh, what a
rude, but happy, awakening it was when I realized how wrong I'd been. Writing
is something that everyone can do, but you have to work hard and learn your
craft to do it well, and consistently well, through every book. I wrote my
first book, The Bum Magnet, in four months, self-published it a year later. It
got picked up by Simon & Schuster four months later and the rest, as they
say, is history. That was six years ago, and I'm nine books in now. Pretty
incredible journey

Do you write
full-time? If so, what's your work day like? If not, what do you do other than
write and how do you find time to write?

No,
I’m not fortunate enough to be able to do the creative writing full time. I
work full time, usually writing early in the morning (I’m up by 3 am or 4 am)
and then again after work, usually late into the evening.

What would you say is
your interesting writing quirk?

It’s
funny. I’ve never really been a persnickety writer. I can pretty much write
anywhere under most conditions, especially if I have a deadline. BUT—I will
say, when I write longhand, I’ve become partial to Moleskine notebooks and gel
pens, something about the smoothness of the stroke, I don’t know. But the words
come faster when I have those two in hand.

As a child, what did
you want to be when you grew up?

I
always wanted to be a writer, but I talked myself out of it for decades. I kept
thinking I needed a degree in English or an MFA and that it was too late for
me. I’m proof positive that it’s never too late, and the only thing that will
hold you back from achieving your dreams is your own negative thinking.

It’s
funny as I think about it. I used to practice my autograph when I was young.
It’s funny that I pretty much use that same signature. I was an author before I
knew it.

Anything additional
you want to share with the readers?

Thank
you so much for joining me today. Please check out my books and feel free to
reach out to me on any of my social networks. I’m very responsive to readers
and writers, and I’m happy to answer questions or provide advice.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Today is a special excerpt from the historical fantasy romance The Challenge by Kim Iverson Headlee.

During
her virtual book tour, Kim will be awarding an autographed print copy of Dawnflight to a lucky randomly drawn
winner. To be entered for a chance to win, use
the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit her other tour stops and enter there, too!

This book will be offered FREE on Kindle Oct 27-28.

A little bit about The Challenge:

The gauntlet is thrown. One
must die. Refusal is not an option.

Arthur the High King of Breatein has fallen
captive of a longtime enemy, the Saxon warrior-princess Camilla, who lusts to
avenge the death of her betrothed at Gyan’s hands and will stop at nothing,
even the black arts, to achieve her goal. Because Gyan and Arthur have grown
estranged, she fears that Arthur may side with Camilla and make her his new
queen.

To meet Camilla’s challenge, Gyan must face all
her demons—public as well as private.

Excerpt from The Challenge:

The guard drew a long breath. “Your Majesty, it
is time.”

Time to face all my demons, private as well as
public.

At her nod, he returned to his post outside—a
mite reluctantly, she observed.

“Any last advice?” she asked Merlin at the
tent’s entrance. She barked a mirthless laugh. “How does one fight a demon?”

“You must not forget your shield.”

She felt her eyebrows rise. “You know I am no
novice warrior.”

“I am not talking of wood and metal, Your
Majesty.”

A bit about the author:

Kim Headlee
lives on a farm in southwestern Virginia with her family, cats, goats, Great
Pyrenees goat guards, and assorted wildlife. People and creatures come and go,
but the cave and the 250-year-old house ruins—the latter having been occupied
as recently as the mid-twentieth century—seem to be sticking around for a while
yet.

Kim is a
Seattle native and a direct descendent of twentieth-century Russian nobility.
Her grandmother was a childhood friend of the doomed Grand Duchess Anastasia,
and the romantic yet tragic story of how Babushka escaped Communist Russia with
the aid of her American husband will most certainly one day fuel one of Kim’s
novels. Another novel in the queue will involve her husband’s ancestor, the
seventh-century proto-Viking king of the Swedish colony in Russia.

For the time
being, however, Kim has plenty of work to do in creating her projected 8-book
Arthurian series, The Dragon’s Dove Chronicles, and other novels clamoring for
attention. She has been a published novelist since 1999, beginning with the
original editions of Dawnflight (Sonnet Books, Simon & Schuster) and
Liberty (writing as Kimberly Iverson, HQN Books, Harlequin).

Monday, October 26, 2015

Mystery
author D.H. Montgomery has
the hot seat today to talk about the first novel in his new Private PSI
Detective Mystery series, Karma Dead
Ahead.

Welcome, D.H. Please tell us a little
bit about yourself.
I came to fiction writing in a very unusual manner. The story is stranger than
many incidents found in fiction books. D.H. Montgomery is a pen name, based on
my more famous second cousin, who wrote Anne
of the Green Gables. My background was initially in math and science and I was
previously a professor in an engineering college. I had written a number of
non-fiction books, but no fiction whatsoever, not even a short story, prior to Karma Dead Ahead. In the spring of 2014,
a number of real-life paranormal events were taking place around me, including
poltergeist activity in my home. One day, the entire plot of what would become
a 250-page book popped into his mind in minutes. Not every little detail of
course, but I imagined the overall plot and the characters involved in the
book. It took five weeks to write everything down, which was as fast as I could
type. After “Karma Dead Ahead” was finished, late one night a ghost appeared
next to my computer. He had not appeared previously and has not appeared
since.

Please tell us about your current
release.

Karma Dead Ahead is a nicely paced detective mystery
story with appealing well-drawn characters and a plot that always keeps you
guessing as it alternates between humor and suspense.

Two graduate
students in a university paranormal research lab become accidental detectives
as they go searching for a woman who fails to return from her Caribbean
vacation. They get help from a group of psychics known as the “Gang of Four”
and a hi-tech witchcraft practitioner. The psychics reveal that a karmic debt
from two hundred years ago has put the woman on a path to danger. After some
brilliant deductions and twists and turns, the two detectives come face to face
with a deranged killer and his intended latest victim. Just as karma set off
the chain of events in the beginning, it also determines the dramatic outcome.

Karma Dead Ahead is not just another Detective
Mystery/Suspense novel. There are a number of incidents that take place that
humorously satirize the corruption and dysfunction of modern institutions — the
media, celebrity worship, the scientific establishment, business and elite
protection from law enforcement — giving the novel depth and comic relief from
the more suspenseful main plot.

What inspired you to write this book?

I had no plans
to write Karma Dead Ahead or any
other fiction work, until the entire story occurred to me one day in June 2014.
I figured I had the entire plot with many of the details of the story, I should
write it down.

Excerpt from Karma Dead Ahead:

Chapter
Four: The two detectives, Sagacity Jeunesse and Chance Mankowski, are meeting
with a group of psychics known as the “Gang of Four” to try to find out why a
missing woman, Amanda Posner, hasn’t returned from her Caribbean vacation. The
psychics don’t always get along with each other.

Sagacity
began the meeting by thanking them all for coming and saying she had a number
of objects in plastic bags for their readings, some pictures, and a map. She
filled in the sparse details of what she knew about Amanda’s disappearance
trying to stay on that fine line between providing the information they needed
to know, but not telling them too much. This would allow her to potentially
check on their accuracy.

Sagacity
simply said, “A woman, Amanda Posner, took a trip to the Caribbean island of
Capo Barbuda and has failed to return. She appears to have been in contact with
a man named Rodrigo Barnett prior to going to the island. I have pictures of
both of them for you, a map of Capo Barbuda, and some of Amanda’s personal
items, both metal and cloth. We are trying to find out why she hasn’t returned
and where she might be.”

Sagacity then
passed around the pictures of Amanda and Rodrigo and copies of the map of the
island, suggesting they get some initial impressions before selecting the
objects they felt were best for them. She waited a few minutes, and then she
asked if everyone was ready. After they all said yes, she picked up the baggies
with the objects that Amanda had left and described the contents. She then told
the psychics to choose the ones they wanted. Then, looking at Sativa, she said,
“I have the special item that you requested,” and she handed him the bag with
the panties in them. This immediately got Glastonbury’s attention and a sharp
look of disapproval.

“I see Mr.
Sativa is indulging his usual twisted tastes for his psychic analysis,” she
said in her loud crisp voice dripping with censure.

“I don’t
recall anyone asking the opinion of the fat English cow about this matter. She
only wishes she could be as productive as I am,” he shot back, glaring at her.

“Productive!
... Productive! ... I’m the one that does the work of two psychics.” Glastonbury retorted.

“You should
be. After all, you’re the size of two psychics.” Sativa replied sarcastically.

“I’ll have
you know, that I don’t have to come here to be insulted by YOU,” Glastonbury
stated indignantly.

Just then,
Del Rio was heard to say in her chirpy voice, “I thought Indians worshipped the
cow.”

Kuliganaya
immediately replied, “Perhaps that’s only if they are domestic darlink. Foreign
cows may not count.” To emphasize her point, she flicked an imaginary cigarette
in the long cigarette holder she always carried around, even though she had
given up smoking years ago.

After that,
general mayhem and shouting completely took over the room. Chance was watching
in amazement, thinking to himself, “I wonder if I should be taking notes on any
of this.”

Sagacity
decided to take back control and shouted, “STOP IT! STOP IT! STOP IT!” in the
loudest voice she could. The room quieted immediately.

She
continued, “OK, now let’s just put personal matters aside and concentrate on the
problem at hand. There could be serious issues that require immediate attention
and we need to determine that tonight, so please try to cooperate. Now, will
everyone please take the objects they want and let’s get on with it.” Sagacity
then passed the items around the circle and announced, “We will start with
Sanjiva and then go to Lena, Elsa and finally to Chi Chi. Sanjiva, please begin
as soon as you are ready.”

Sanjiva
used only the pictures and Amanda’s panties for his analysis. He held the
panties in his hands and seemed to go into a trance for a few minutes. Then he
began to speak, slowly at first with seemingly random tidbits that referred to
previous existences, but soon he began to focus on one specific past lifetime
that he deemed to be the relevant one….

What exciting story are you working on
next?

In addition
to two non-fiction books, I am two-thirds of the way through the second novel
in the Private PSI Detective Mystery Series. In the first novel, the two
detectives, Sagacity Jeunesse and Chance Mankowski went to a Caribbean Island
to track down a missing woman and a maniacal killer. In the second one, they go
to Paris and have a completely different set of adventures. There is even a
touch of spy thriller in the new book.

When did you first consider yourself a
writer?

I’m not
sure I consider myself a writer. Writing is one of many things I do.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's
your work day like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find
time to write?

I write
books episodically. I used to be a blogger. I am a speaker and own a small
business. Writing isn’t something you find time to do, it’s something you make
time to do.

What would you say is your interesting
writing quirk?

I always
have a period when I write every spare moment for several days when working on
a book. For Karma Dead Ahead, that is
how the entire book was written. For non-fiction, this happens for only part of
the book.

As a child, what did you want to be
when you grew up?
I remember in kindergarten they asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up
and I said a teacher. Many years later, I was a professor for several years.

Anything additional you want to share
with the readers?

Check out
the reviews for Karma Dead Ahead.
They have been better than anything in my wildest imagination. Some of the
reviews are a page long, indicating people really got involved with the book,
they didn’t just merely read it.

Friday, October 23, 2015

To wrap up this week, I have Tom Early chatting with me about his new contemporary young adult fantasy novel, Aspect of Winter.

As part of his virtual book tour, Tom will be awarding a signed copy of Aspect of Winter to a lucky person. To be entered for a chance to win, use the form below. To increase your chances of winning, feel free to visit his other tour stops (listed at the bottom of the post) and enter there, too!

Bio:Tom Early is currently a student at Tufts University who probably spends more time than is wise reading and writing instead of studying. More often than not, he can be found wrapped in a blanket on the couch forgetting most of the things he was supposed to do that day. When not writing, Tom can be found either reading, gaming, drawing, scratching his dog, or bothering his friends. He also frequently forgets that it’s healthy to get more than six hours of sleep a night, and firmly believes that treating coffee as the most important food group makes up for this. If you show him a picture of your dog, he will probably make embarrassingly happy noises and then brag about his own dog. He’s always happy to talk about any of his previous or current writing projects, because people asking him about them reminds him that he should really be writing right now.

Welcome, Tom. Please tell us about your current release.

Aspect of Winter is a YA contemporary fantasy novel featuring a
gay protagonist and a pansexual best friend as well as a bisexual love
interest. Fay Hanson is a boy with powers who’s had enough of pretending to be
normal at his high school, and he wants to go somewhere that he can finally
belong. Sam is his best friend, and she’s not exactly normal either, as it
turns out. When a representative from the mysterious Janus University
approaches them and invites them to fight for a place at a college for those people
with magic, they aren’t about to refuse. Along the way comes Tyler, a
completely normal boy who gets dragged into the mess by a summoning attempt
gone wrong, and together the three of them must fight to earn a place at Janus
University, and Fay can finally be somewhere he feels like he belongs.

What inspired you to write this book?

I want to help with representation in YA lit,
where LGBT characters are currently decidedly lacking. There aren’t enough
books featuring LGBT protagonists out there right now, and I aim to change
that. As for the story itself, I started writing it when I was going through
the college application process myself. I wanted to see what it would be like
if I turned the already competitive process into something that featured actual
fighting for a place at a college, and Aspect of Winter was born.

Excerpt from Aspect of Winter:AS IT turned out, being wedged into the small space below the math wing staircase was exactly as uncomfortable as I’d imagined. Now, I was in there of my own choice, sort of. I held still and listened, letting out a sigh of relief when I heard the boys’ voices fading. I decided it was safe and did my best to wriggle out.Groaning, I brushed myself off and realized that I’d somehow managed to cover the majority of my backpack in a thick layer of dust. Rumor had it that years ago the staircase used to be green. Now it was gray. I looked at my backpack in disgust and let out a breath, concentrating. The dust glittered as a layer of frost covered it. When I hoisted my bag onto my back once more, the dust slid right off, the frost preventing it from clinging.

Clean backpack in hand, I trudged up the stairs, across the hall, and walked into the classroom. I took my customary seat in the back next to the poster detailing the derivative rules of calculus, feeling a flash of pity for Ms. King as I watched her try to get anyone to listen, and grabbed my book of the day as the front row began its usual antics. Today they asked Ms. King about her love life, which, while incredibly rude, was extremely successful in throwing her off-balance.I would never understand high school, even after nearly four years of it. It seemed barely tolerable for everyone involved, including the people who fit in. I didn’t fit in, and so every day was a new chapter in the purgatory of hiding what I could do.I sent a grateful prayer to the high school gods as class was interrupted by an announcement saying we needed to go to the nurse’s office for a new immunization or something. Ms. King pulled us out of the truly thrilling world of integrals and sent us down one at a time. I was one of the last to go.Stepping back into the hallway, I prayed that I wasn’t going to run into any of Logan’s crowd again on my way down. The number of times I’d heard “fag” muttered under someone’s breath was already too high.The school had two hallways running between the faculty area and the math wing, and most people took the lower one. I chose the glass hallway because it was usually empty (this surprised me as well, but apparently using stairs was just too much for many of my classmates), and it was pretty cool to be able to see the entire campus from what was effectively its highest point. I trailed a finger across the glass as I walked, leaving behind a fractal line of frost in the warm September air.I smirked. For as long as I’d been at Owl’s Head High School, there had been, in the eloquent phrasing of high schoolers, “spooky shit” in the fall and spring where kids would come across ice or cold areas in warm weather. I knew I needed to keep my head down, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t have a little fun.What exciting story are you working on next?

I’m currently busy working on
the sequel, as well as another standalone high fantasy novel.

When did you first consider yourself a writer?

Probably when I sold my first
book, back when Aspect of Winter was
self-published. Once a complete stranger was willing to spend money on
something I’d written, it felt like I’d done something I could be proud of.

Do you write full-time? If so, what's your work day
like? If not, what do you do other than write and how do you find time to
write?

I don’t write full-time. I’m
currently a student at Tufts University, and most of my days are taken up with
schoolwork. I usually manage to find a couple hours I can spend at the library
to work on my novels, however.

What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

I plan absolutely nothing out
ahead of time. This makes my first drafts quite the stream of consciousness,
but it also lets me finish the story a lot faster. Aspect’s first draft only
took a little over a month to write. The editing process took much, much
longer.

As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

When I was a kid I was
determined to be a wizard and had absolutely no interest in doing any sort of
job ever. It sounded too much like work. Now I’m thinking of becoming a
librarian. Why not base my entire life around books?

Anything additional you want to share with the readers?

Everyone has a story in them,
in one form or another. See if you can’t find yours and give it a shot! It’s always
a lot of fun to see what’s inside your head on paper.

I'm listed!

Blog Tour Partner - Goddess Fish

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About Me

I'm a NH native and love New England. I love writing about the region, exploring it on foot, on my bicycle, and in my car. There are so many small communities and fun and interesting people in this area, that I could be here a lifetime and not do all it is I want to do. :)

I'm a moderator at The Writer's Chatroom that hosts live chats with guest authors on Sunday nights 7-9PM EST. Join the e-mail list to get notifications of upcoming guests, then stop in and join the conversation!